When I was deciding between two internship offers, one from Enterprise and another from a small local company in my hometown of Bend, Oregon, I ended up choosing Enterprise. On paper, both roles were similar, each offered hands-on experience, development opportunities, and chances to grow professionally. But the key difference was compensation. Enterprise offered a significantly higher hourly wage, and for me, that tipped the scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back, compensation was more than just a paycheck. It was a signal that the company valued the work I\u2019d be doing. According to First, Break All the Rules<\/em>, pay isn\u2019t just a number, it\u2019s an emotional measure of value. In my case, the higher wage made me feel like the role would be more impactful and that the company was more invested in its interns\u2019 performance and contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book also explains how great managers try to redirect employee ambition by attaching meaning and respect to every role, not just promotions. But when that structure isn\u2019t in place like in many internships, the clearest indicator of value becomes pay. That\u2019s exactly what happened for me. While the local company may have offered a more relaxed environment and even more personal attention, the compensation structure at Enterprise sent a stronger message about career potential, seriousness, and expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t just the money, it was what the money represented. It made me feel like the work I\u2019d be doing mattered, and that was the kind of motivation I needed to say yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was deciding between two internship offers, one from Enterprise and another from a small local company in my hometown of Bend, Oregon, I ended up choosing Enterprise. On paper, both roles were similar, each offered hands-on experience, development opportunities, and chances to grow professionally. But the key difference was compensation. Enterprise offered a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14811,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14811"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/jakehatch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}